Snow Day Sticks York Students, Teachers

YORK (COUNTY) — Motives vary from remembering our country's war dead to sunbathing, but nobody wants to be stuck in school on Memorial Day.

"Everybody liked it when we got a couple days off in March with all the snow, but they regret it now," said Mike Tylavsky, principal of Tabb High School.

Tylavsky and York's 14 other principals will open their doors Monday to make up a snow day. Some don't expect a stampede of students.

When county schools have opened on past Memorial Days, about one-third of the high school students have been absent, Tylavsky estimated.

"A lot of staff members will be out with personal leave for family reunions, picnics and trips they already have reservations for," he added.

"Attendance will be down for sure, but I don't know how much," said Barry Beers, principal of York High.

"We are going to proceed as normal. It would be nice to have the day off to celebrate, but sometimes you can't do the things you want to do."

County students missed four days of school this year because of snow. One snow day is built into the school calendar. Students had to attend school Jan. 26 and April 10 - normally teacher planning days - and now must finish making up the missed time on Memorial Day.

The school system made a "big mistake" by deciding to open on Memorial Day, said Dennis McCarthy, a York parent and member of the Air Force.

"It's a shame. The holiday is there for a purpose," he said. "It's a holiday to honor the men that died for their country in the wars. I like to take my boy to one of the memorial services."

McCarthy said he will excuse his son from school.

"Some people use it as a three-day weekend before summer starts, but a lot of patriotic people treat it as a real holiday," he said.

Sandra Combs, a School Board member who spent five years in the Air Force and served in Vietnam, agreed.

"I don't think they should be in school. I voted for the calendar and I shouldn't have," she said.

Combs and Tylavsky said opening schools on Memorial Day, however, is better than extending the school year.

A longer June would cause problems with graduations and disrupt summer plans, they said.

James Funk, chairman of the Board of Supervisors and a Grafton resident who retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel after 32 years of service, repeated the charge that school on Memorial Day defeats the purpose of the holiday.

"Where I grew up in the Midwest, Memorial Day was a very patriotic day with parades and other events," he said. "Regardless of whether we have a lot of military children in the school system, I think we should celebrate federal holidays, particularly the patriotic ones."

Marsha Brown, principal of Yorktown Elementary, professed neutrality on whether schools should be open on the holiday, but said, "We will make the students aware that it is Memorial Day."

A group of Yorktown Elementary students will make a presentation on the meaning of Memorial Day to fellow students, and a moment of silence will probably be observed, Brown said.

"There will be a few more students than usual" absent from school, Brown said.

"I don't think our attendance will be affected significantly."

Monday afternoon, Tabb and York high schools will each hold senior class day, a variety of events sponsored by the class of '89 for all students.

"I wish we weren't here on Monday," Tylavsky said.

"I'd like to be sitting on the beach catching some rays and eating hot dogs."